


A Fan in Osaka

by bby_ungjae



Category: IMFACT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Japan, korea - Freeform, kpop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-12-07 03:36:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11615055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bby_ungjae/pseuds/bby_ungjae
Summary: Taeho wants to help Sang, but he can't figure out what's bothering him.





	A Fan in Osaka

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on twitter and wattpad
> 
> edited 8/12/18 at midnight lol

After staying up to finish a Japanese assignment, Taeho rose from his seat to stretch. He looked at his watch: 1:23 am. He sighed, exhausted.

IMFACT were staying at a hotel in Osaka since they were holding a fansign there.

He walked from the table towards the two beds, where all the members slept. However, he didn't see Sang there.

He walked towards the bathroom and turned the knob to hear a yelp that surprised him.

"Yah! Don't come in!" It was Sang.

"Ah, sorry." Taeho took his hand away and stood next to the doorway. They usually weren't so uptight about privacy, but Taeho didn't question it.

Sang cleared his throat. "I'll be out in a second."

"Okay," Taeho waited patiently, as he only needed to brush his teeth.

Sang walked out of the bathroom with a loud sigh. Facing away from Taeho, he quickly walked away.

"Yah, Lee Sang," Taeho called softly. "Are you okay?"

The younger turned a little to look at him, with red, puffy eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine," he nodded.

Taeho became concerned. "Are you sure...?"

Sang smiled reassuringly. "I'm just tired, of course. But I'll be heading to bed now. We have to rest up for the fansign."

Taeho nodded. "Goodnight, Lee Sang."

"Goodnight, hyung."

 

* * *

 

Early in the morning, IMFACT and their staff had to catch a train in order to reach the destination for the fansign on schedule. Oddly, the train wasn't so packed that day and there was enough space for them to sit down.

Sang was constantly looking at his phone during the train ride, despite the requests for him to stop.

"Sang, won't you put your phone down already?" Taeho covered the screen so the younger would look at him. "It’s so early in the morning, why don’t you give yourself time to think before picking it up?”

Sang sighed and turned his phone off before putting it in his pocket.

"What is so important that you must read it anyways?"

"Nothing," Sang shook his head and looked away.

"Lee Sang~" Taeho sighed. "You seem so bothered lately, why don't you tell us? Aren't we all a family? You can tell us anything, you know."

Sang looked at him for a while before smiling. "Of course. I know. Thank you for your concern but there's really nothing wrong."

Taeho smiled softly in return. But he wasn't convinced. Whatever it was, he could tell it was eating Sang away... The boy needed to tell someone before it hurt him too much. Taeho knew, however, that forcing Sang to talk about it wouldn't be any good either.

 

* * *

 

The five boys waited in an empty room while the fansign event was being prepared. With nothing to do, they usually were on their phones or played games with each other. Taeho stared thoughtfully at Sang, who, again, was intensely looking at his phone. It was Ungjae's surprise back hug that broke Taeho's focus.

"Yah, what was the point of that..." Taeho rolled his eyes.

Ungjae rested his chin on his hyung's shoulder. "You look so worried, what's the matter?"

Taeho sighed. "Have you noticed Sang's behavior lately? He seems so upset nowadays. And he's always on his damn phone. It worries me, that he won't talk to anyone."

Ungjae nodded, understanding. "There's a lot of depressing stories in the news nowadays, that could be a reason. Every time you glance at your phone, there's something crazy going on somewhere. It's good to be aware of the news, but if it's bothering him like this, he shouldn't be looking at it before the fansign."

Taeho frowned. Sure, Sang would become upset about such news, but he wasn't sure it would affect him to this extent.

"No, I think it's more personal..."

Ungjae raised an eyebrow. "Whatever the case, we have to go out there and greet fans in less than five minutes." He stood up to walk over to Sang.

"Na Ungjae-" Taeho called. He didn't rise, however, too tired to follow. He only watched as Ungjae said something to Sang, who nodded and put his phone away quickly.

What was it that he was concentrating on?

 

* * *

 

Fansigns were always very meaningful to IMFACT. They were very appreciative of their fans coming to see them and it meant a lot when they could talk to them face to face.

This particular day, they sat in this order: Jeup, Taeho, Jian, Sang, Ungjae

Taeho took a sip of water and waved to the fans as he waited for the girl talking to Jeup to scoot in front of him.

He looked over at Sang. Whatever it was that was bothering him earlier seemed to be forgotten. He smiled brightly while talking to the fans. Taeho grinned and nodded. Maybe this was all he needed to feel better, right? A special moment with IFs to cure his sour mood.

Quite a few minutes passed as they talked to fans and signed albums and posters, received and wore gifts. Taeho felt very proud of himself for studying Japanese the night before, feeling somewhat confident in his language skills as he communicated with numerous fans.

After interacting with another fan, Taeho took another sip of his water and looked around. That's when he noticed Sang's face.

He looked... surprised? Distraught? Terrified? Upset? Whatever it was, Taeho couldn't identify it. After knowing Sang for so long, he'd never seen him wear such an expression, and it frightened him. If that wasn't enough, Sang was looking straight at the girl Taeho had just talked to, who was now talking WITH Jian.

Taeho was baffled. Nonetheless, he quickly observed the situation. The girl was talking to Jian. She seemed very excited to be there. Taeho had just spoken to her, she was very sweet.

Taeho couldn't believe why this could upset Sang. Unless.... he was jealous?

Over a single fan?

Taeho couldn't ponder any longer. He was brought back to reality when Jeup tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, man, focus," he laughed.

"Oh, right." Taeho scratched his head shyly and nodded.

 

* * *

 

Later that evening, everyone agreed to eat out at a ramen shop. They were a bit tired of the room service options, so eating out seemed like a good idea.

After ordering their ramen, they all waited patiently.

Taeho made sure to sit next to Sang. He felt the need to address the incident at the fansign, but he didn't know how to bring it up.

While trying to think of a way, Sang surprising said, "Hyung, let's take a selca together, for IF."

Taeho smiled and posed with him for a few pictures.

"Use this one, this one is good," Taeho said.

"Okay," Sang smiled and went to Twitter, adding the caption to the photo, "Thank you so much for coming out today <3" and posting it.

Taeho wrapped an arm around the younger and smiled at him. He was glad he wasn't feeling so down now.

After posting the selca, of course, they were suddenly flooded with notifications of praise and love from fans all over the world, which they enjoyed a lot.

Taeho looked at Sang strangely as he continued to refresh the notifications. "What are you doing?" he laughed. "It's like you're looking for a specific tweet."

"Funny that you say that," he said softly. So soft, Taeho didn't think it was meant for him to hear, even though he did.

Finally, after constantly refreshing, Sang stopped and clicked on a certain message.

Taeho looked at him so curiously and leaned over to look at the phone, but Sang pulled it away.

"What? I'll see it anyways."

Sang looked at Taeho with a frown and shrugged. "Look on your own phone then."

Taeho scoffed and pulled his phone out. Sang relaxed and looked at his own again.

Taeho sneakily leaned over to look at Sang's phone once again, only to roll his eyes.

He was reading a comment that read. 'Sang oppa~ you look so handsome' Of course. He'd read anything that's praising him, right?

A call directed their attention away from their phones. Their ramen was ready.

 

* * *

 

"That ramen was amazing," Jian exclaimed when they exited the restaurant.

"I really enjoyed the shoyu ramen," Jeup replied. "The broth was particularly delicious."

"Hey guys," Sang called their attention to him. "Umm... I'm going to go on a walk for a while."

Ungjae raised an eyebrow. "You know that there's only one train back to the hotel, right? After that, the station closes."

Sang nodded. "Yeah... I'm sorry, I just need some air and time to clear my head."

Jian laughed. "You can do that on the way to the station, now come on, we don't have all night."

Sang shook his head. "It's okay, I'll take a cab."

"It's not okay," Jeup said. "We can't allow you to walk around this area alone, you hardly know your way around."

"I'll go with him," Ungjae volunteered, but Sang quickly turned it down.

"I'm sorry guys, I really need some alone time."

Jian sighed. He walked over to him and handed him some money. "I don't know how much the cab will cost, but this should be enough. Don't stay out for too long, okay? And when you come back, you know you can talk to us."

Sang nodded. "Thanks," he waved and they walked in separate directions.

Jian and Jeup quickly returned to their conversation about the ramen. Ungjae, noticing how distant Taeho seemed, reached out to grab his hand.

"Hyung, what is it?"

Taeho frowned and pursed his lips. "I don't feel very good about letting Sang walk alone."

"Then why didn't you speak up?" Ungjae laughed.

"I don't know..." Taeho heavily sighed.

Ungjae frowned. Taeho seemed to be very concerned about Sang. "Well, you should go with him then."

"He's already walked so far away..."

"He isn’t that far."

Taeho stopped walking and Ungjae stopped with him. The other two kept going, not noticing.

"Okay. I'll go catch up with him. I'll see you guys at the hotel."

Ungjae smiled and nodded. "Okay, see you there." He hugged his hyung and kissed him on the cheek, making him blush.

"Stop it, oh my gosh, you're too much," Taeho quickly protested, making Ungjae laugh. They waved at each other and Ungjae caught up with the other two, who never noticed their absence. Taeho walked in the direction towards Sang.

 

* * *

 

He had almost considered himself lost until he spotted a moving figure. He quickly walked towards it. It appeared to be Sang.

He wondered whether he should catch up to him or stalk him. After all, Sang specifically requested to be alone.

But he wanted to make sure he was safe.

He stayed a reasonable distance away so he could see him, but never get suspected.

Taeho began to ponder again. What is it that is bothering Sang so much? That he looked so distressed whenever he looked at the phone? Or that strange incident at the fansign, when he looked so distressed looking at the girl?

Taeho had become so stressed about Sang, and he felt like he should help. But he couldn't force Sang to tell him.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice that Sang had slowed down and began walking toward a bench.

Taeho also slowed down before sitting beside a building and watching from afar.

Once again, Sang pulled out his phone.

"What’s with this kid?" Taeho shook his head. He wanted to be alone so he could sit down and browse the internet?

Because of the light from his phone, Taeho could clearly see Sang's face. He wore a small smile, which reassured Taeho that maybe, whatever Sang was feeling, was really a phase he'd gotten over after seeing the fans. But after a few minutes, the smile disappeared. Sang didn't just look stressed anymore. He looked like he would cry.

Suddenly, a loud noise, coming from the direction they came, startled Taeho, causing him to yelp. It was only a car honking, probably on a different street.

Taeho shook his head, disappointed in himself, and looked back at Sang, who was now standing and looking in his direction.

Had he been startled too?

Suddenly, he started quickly walking in that direction. It looked like he was walking... towards him?

Taeho stood up quickly, in panic mode, looking around for someplace to hide, but realized he'd already been caught.

Sang abruptly stopped in front of him.

"Hyung, what are you doing?"

Taeho sighed. "I didn't feel safe letting you walk by yourself."

“Why is that?"

"Well, look at you. You walked all the way over here to play on your phone, which you can do at the hotel."

"Don't you trust me, hyung?" Sang looked irritated and betrayed.

Taeho sighed. "You've been upset for the past few days, I've been worried about you. What's it that's eating you?"

Sang looked at Taeho, then looked at the ground. It was no use hiding it anymore.

The walked to the bench to sit as Sang figured how to explain it. "This may sound crazy... I shouldn't even feel this way... I'm not allowed to, yet here I am."

Taeho rose an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.

"There's a girl..."

"Oh," Taeho hummed quietly.

"She's an IF. She's very sweet and very beautiful. And she lives here, in Osaka."

Taeho opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. He had many questions, but he decided to wait until Sang was finished speaking.

"I've always seen her on Twitter and occasionally on Instagram. She's a very passionate fan." Sang smiled sadly. "I think I've fallen for her. She'd never feel the same about me though."

"Hey, come on now. You're Lee Sang, how could she not like you?"

"I'm not Lee Jian."

"Oh..."

Sang sighed and looked at the ground. "She looked so happy talking to him today... She even posted about it, see?"

Sang handed his phone over to his hyung. It was a post showing a girl who was posing with them. The caption read, "Met IMFACT for the first time today and even talked to Jian oppa~ ><" Taeho looked at the picture for a few seconds before realizing that it was the girl Sang stared at during the fansign.

"She's cute," Taeho returned the phone to the owner.

Sang glared at him.

"What?"

"You're judging me, aren't you?"

"No, not at all! It's just... well..."

Sang scoffed. "Just forget everything I said. "He stood up quickly.

"No, Sang." He rose to put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I just... I don't know. It's a bad situation, but it can't be helped really. We can't date our fans. The best you can do is get over it."

Sang shook his head. "Taeho, you really don't understand, do you? It's not just a crush... I've fallen in love with her."

Taeho stared at him. He's helpless, he thought. He sat again and pondered about what to say.

Sang sat next to him. "I've fallen in love with a Jian stan." He looked at his phone. "But it's small messages like these that make me feel a little better."

Taeho looked at the screen, it was the reply under the post from earlier: "Sang oppa~ you look so handsome" It was from that fan.

"Seeing her tweets about her love for Jian hyung... it hurts, but somehow I can still admire it. Because she's a very passionate fan, ya know." He smiled sadly. “He’s so lucky to have her…”

Taeho looked at the younger. It hurt him that Sang was in pain, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"You're right anyways, hyung. It can't be helped.”

Taeho shook his head. "You're Lee Sang. You can win anyone's heart." He wrapped his arm around his shoulder. "Now, you may feel heartbroken. And we'll be here to help you cope. But you'll get over it. And there are other fans who love you. I know this isn't the best advice, but we really don't like seeing you moping all the time."

Sang smiled at Taeho and nodded. "I understand. Thank you."

"And don't ever feel afraid to talk to us, okay. We’ll try to help you with anything, that’s what we’re here for."

"Of course, hyung."

They sat silently for a minute before Sang spoke, "I think we should call a cab now."


End file.
